Where Are You Going This Week?

I loved what you shared with me last night about the part of the sermon at Midtown on Sunday when Randy asked the question, "Where are you going this week?" 

Not only is this Holy Week, but it is the week you all are making the move to Pittsburg. 

As you make this big move and step out in faith, may this prayer for Holy Week below carry you through and give you bread for the journey. 

Lord Jesus Christ, prepare our hearts to walk with you the rest of the way this Holy Week.

Help us  find ourselves in this part of your story and not run from the pain and the unanswerable questions contained within it.

Draw us to sit with you at the Last Supper where you shared your heart so tenderly with your friends and also faced your betrayer honestly and without malice.

Help us to stay awake in the Garden of that Dark Night, wrestling with the death and dying that must take place in order for your will to come forth.

Give us the wisdom to know, as you did, when it is time to lay down our life so that some day we can take it up again.

Give us the grace to endure the pain of witnessing your humiliation and rejection so that we can more gracefully endure our own.

Help us to be as gut-wrenchingly honest as you were when you cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

Grant us the courage to let go when it is time. Grant us the patience to wait with you in the silence of death until you call forth the resurrection.

Amen.  -Ruth Haley Barton 

The Goodnight Song

The time has come for us to say

that this has been a lovely day.

And God's spirit dwelling in your heart

won't be leaving 'cause the sun goes down.

So have a good night

have a good night

have a good night

have a good night,

our sweet friends... 

we love you! 

It's Possible

Jens and Abby- 
I just put up this post below on my Celebrate Today blog, but I wanted to share it here too because I had you all on my heart and mind so much this morning too. (During the bike ride, I was telling Kim about breathing through a straw, about your engagement, about the gift it is to get to be a part of your lives...) 
As I wore Kim's swim cap- "Kim Possible" (see below),  that whole positive vibe was something I wanted to send your way too.  Where the world says, "Impossible"- may you know the Easter hope of possibility.... I am so thankful that we serve a God where nothing is impossible! 
Praying for you for all the things before you that do seem impossible to get done in the next 24 hours before trying to leave too! It's possible!! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dilEWfOxSQU

here's a whimsical song from Cinderella to remind you of this over this next week: 

Impossible, for a plain yellow pumpkin to become a golden carriage.
Impossible, for a plain country bumpkin and a prince to join in marriage,
And four white mice will never be four white hosrses!
Such fol-der-ol and fid-dle-dy dee of course, is--- Impossible!
But the world is full of zanies and fools
Who don't believe in sensible rules
And won't believe what sensible people say.
And because these daft and dewey-eyed dopes keep building up impossible hopes,
Impossible things are happening every day.

Kim Possible- 4-13-14 
Today was the 30th Annual Trideltathon in Knoxville.  When I looked at our spring break dates back in January and realized this race would fall during our break AND when my friend Kim said she would be done with her chemo and radiation by this time and that she was going to sign up for the race, I knew this was something I did not want to miss for the world.  

This race is how I got to know Kim 4 years ago when she asked me at Sequoyah one day at school pick-up if I would train for this race with her.  We started running, biking and swimming together that spring. As we logged the miles, we also began to share our hearts and souls together and the rest is history. 

Since it was the 30th anniversary of the race, they dubbed this year as the Retro-Triathlon and had the events done backwards from what the normal order is for a fun twist this year.  So we ran first, then biked and swam at the end. Both Kim and I agreed that this is the way to go! 

Yesterday as we were talking, I asked Kim if she would let me run along with her during the race and we agreed we would give it a shot today. 

This amazing woman who been battling cancer this last year showed the world once again today that she is a fighter (and a fast mama at that!).  She asked me to push her a bit in the run, and with the first mile right under a 7 minute mile, I honestly thought there was something wrong with my watch! Nope- she was just flying. 


We were mostly all smiles on the bike portion of the race.  Due to the radiation treatment having had a delayed reaction that showed up 1 1/2 weeks ago, she had some areas that looked like they had third degree burns under her arms and on her chest so the swimming was painful to say the least, but she powered through.  I tried to stay right by her side (unless we had to let someone by or pass someone).  Since her hair is super short as it is just now beginning to grow back, she did not need a swim cap.  So, I was the lucky one who got to wear her bright pink swim cap that said "KIM POSSIBLE" that the UT Swim team had made for a breast cancer awareness event during a swim meet recently.  

As we got out of the pool, I grabbed her hand and we finished the race hand in hand (and then with hugs and high fives all around.)  And the end result is that Kim got FIRST PLACE in her age division! WHOOHOOO!!!! 

On Facebook Kim wrote this update: "Oh, sorry breast cancer - I won my age group ANYWAY! Props and endless thanks to Emily Huff who won Best Supporting Actress (don't those trophies look like Oscars?) for hanging with me the entire race and coming in 3rd in her younger age group!"

just one more thing...

It's midnight here and my flight tomorrow morning for TN leaves at 7:53 which means the alarm will go off around 5:30. I meant to go to bed early, but there were just more things to do to get ready for our trip. I kept thinking to myself, "okay... just one more thing." But the problem is that those kept stacking up, and now if I were Cinderella, my coach would have already turned into a pumpkin.

So, this weekend, know that I will be praying for you as you all try to wrap it all up that God will give you just what you need each day to take care of all that is before you...

(even when that voice in your head says, "just one more thing!") 

an invitation to adventure

A Never-ending Call 

God’s call, vocation, is twofold. God calls us saying, ‘Come, follow me.’ We arrive and then we must follow. We find but must go on seeking. God’s call is a never-ending call, to the unknown, to adventure, to follow him in the night, in solitude. It is a call incessantly to go further, and further. For it is not static but dynamic (as creation also is dynamic) and reaching him means going on and on. God’s call is like the call to become an explorer; it is an invitation to adventure.   -Ernesto Cardenal 

As I read this, you all immediately came to mind.  You have been given an invitation to adventure and I am praying today for you to know that grace has your back as you blaze this trail... 

encouragement

When I was running yesterday, I left the house with some paperwork in hand as I needed to drop off something for Anna's registration at the middle school where she will be attending next fall.  

(How did this happen overnight that I am the mother of an almost-middle-schooler?!) 

I noticed this in the middle school office and it seemed worthy of a picture 

because you don't see this everyday. 

I am praying for encouragement for you both where you would least expect it this week 

as you continue to sprint this stretch of your marathon.  

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 

Hospitality

hos·pi·tal·i·ty

ˌhäspiˈtalitē/

noun

1. 1.

   the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.

   synonyms:

   friendliness, hospitableness, warm reception, welcome,  helpfulness,neighborliness, warmth, kindness, congeniality, geniality, cordiality,courtesy, amenability, generosity,  entertainment, catering, food

This morning, I was listening to a sermon on hospitality on my run.  Our pastor pointed out an obvious observation which can be easily missed that the word "hospital" is in the world "hospitality."  It seemed like an obvious invitation to pray for you all as you all head to the hospital in Pittsburg that you would experience hospitality in the best sense of the word.  

As you make this move to a new city, I am asking God to open doors for you all in places you would not expect, that you would experience grace and generosity of spirit, warmth. and a sense of home together. 

It also reminded me of this poem by Jan Richardson that my sister-in-law shared with me in January right at the time that Jason got word that he was not going to be working for New Leaders anymore.  It offered amazing perspective for us in the new year no matter what may come.  I am copying it below for you two as well as an offering in this new season to Pittsburg and as you can imagine this coming season as a house- a space in time that opening to you. 

Jan Richardson writes, "How will we inhabit the coming year? How will we enter it with mindfulness and with intention? How will we move through the rooms of the coming months in a way that brings blessing to this world?
With these questions in mind, I offer this blessing for you.

The Year as a House: A Blessing

Think of the year
as a house:
door flung wide
in welcome,
threshold swept
and waiting,
a graced spaciousness
opening and offering itself
to you.

Let it be blessed
in every room.
Let it be hallowed
in every corner.
Let every nook
be a refuge
and every object
set to holy use.

Let it be here
that safety will rest.
Let it be here
that health will make its home.
Let it be here
that peace will show its face.
Let it be here
that love will find its way.

Here
let the weary come
let the aching come
let the lost come
let the sorrowing come.

Here
let them find their rest
and let them find their soothing
and let them find their place
and let them find their delight.

And may it be
in this house of a year
that the seasons will spin in beauty,
and may it be
in these turning days
that time will spiral with joy.
And may it be
that its rooms will fill
with ordinary grace
and light spill from every window
to welcome the stranger home.

Wherever you make your home, may it be blessed, and may you enter this new season in peace."   http://paintedprayerbook.com/2009/12/31/epiphany-blessing-the-house